matthewreillyfandomcom-20200214-history
Black Raven
The Black Raven is a specially modified Sukhoi Su-37 plane owned by Aloysius Knight, primarily piloted by his friend Rufus. History Early History Originally a test-damaged prototype Sukhoi S-37, the plane was gifted to the Black Knight in 2000 after he rescued the daughter of Russia's Deputy President without the media even knowing of the incident. Having refuelling privilages at any Russian base around the world, the Black Knight and his pilot Rufus used the Sukhoi, dubbed the Black Raven, as their personal transport for undertaking their bounty missions. Scarecrow The Black Raven was used to bring Knight and Rufus to Krask-8, where their target for protection, Shane Schofield, was located. After using a missile to destroy a torpedo set to destroy the facility, the Black Raven landed, and Rufus remained with their plane while Knight examined the area to confirm that Schofield had already moved on. Rufus and Knight then proceeded to track Schofield to the Karpalov coalmine, where Rufus held the Black Raven over one of the mine's air vents to allow Knight to rappel down and reach Schofield. While Knight helped Schofield and his team escape from the Skorpions, Rufus moved the Black Raven into position by the mine's entrance for a quick extraction. Once Knight, Schofield, Mother and Book II made it onboard, the Black Raven flew off moments before the mine was destroyed, and landed on the opposite mountain so that Knight could explain to the Marines their reason for keeping Schofield alive. After the group tracking the IG-88 to a British airfield, Rufus used the Black Raven to take Book II and Mother to London. Shortly after dropping the Marines off, Rufus and the Black Raven were detained by Scott Moseley and his men until Book II and Mother returned. With the President's blessing to use whatever resources necessary to keep Schofield alive and the U.S.'s support, Mother demanded use of Rufus and the Black Raven so that she could rendezvous with the others in France. The Black Raven sped across the English Channel towards the Forteresse de Valois where Knight, Schofield and Gant had gone, arriving to find the trail of destruction leading away from the castle caused by the group's escape. Soon after, the Black Raven picked Knight up after he escaped the castle, and moved on to attack the Richelieu Aircraft Carrier Schofield was being held on by the French. To allow Mother the chance to retrieve Schofield, Rufus and Knight utilised the Black Raven to cause as much mayhem as possible, even flying the fighter plane within the carrier's internal hanger. As the group made their way to a Kormoran vessel under Majestic-12's control, Schofield demanded Rufus land the Black Raven when he learned of Gant's death. Soon, they moved on and found the MV Talbot, the Black Raven dropping Knight, Schofield and Mother off before landing the fighter on a civilian container ship, which Rufus would set to ram the Talbot before taking off once more. Once the Talbot once sunk, Rufus retrieved Schofield and Knight, and Schofield, having realised Killian's extra step to M-12's plan, ordered Rufus to use the Black Raven to fly them to Yemen to prevent the final Chameleon missile from launching. However, Rufus pointed out that the Black Raven could never make the trip in time, so Schofield called Moseley to arrange a pair of X-15s for them to use instead. Journeying to Italy, the Black Raven landed at the Aerostadia Airfield in Italy where the X-15s were being prepped, and the plane was left behind and moved into a hanger while Schofield, Knight and Rufus continued their mission. A week after the crisis, Knight and Rufus returned to the Aerostadia to retrieve the Black Raven, causing rumours of a break-in. The Three Secret Cities In November 2016, Schofield contacted Knight and Rufus to request that he use Knight's debt to him to find and aid Jack West Jr, and as Knight believed that the Knights of the Golden Eight had taken him to a remote Algerian mine, Rufus piloted the Black Raven there. After hearing internal radio chatter that another group had been captured after attempting to break in, Rufus was left onboard the plane while Knight parachuted down into the Erebus cavern. When Jack's team decided to assault Aragon Castle to retrieve two of their captured friends, Rufus used the Black Raven to destroy a railgun emplacement and drop a pair of decoys for the Knights of the Golden Eight's torpedoes that were set to strike the castle. As Jack and his team intended to find the Three Secret Cities and overcome their defences in order to save the world from catastrophe, Rufus flew him and Knight to Santorini on the Black Raven to seek out Poseidon's tomb. After the Trident was recovered, the Black Raven picked the pair up and began flying them to Atlas to empower the weapon. However, with Sphinx threatening Lily's life if they did not empower the Mace and return it to him, Rufus was ordered to fly the Black Raven 100 miles away from the area. Some time later, Knight contacted Rufus to request a pick up for him and Jack from the Altar of the Cosmos, and upon collecting its passengers, Knight told Rufus to start flying the Black Raven anywhere away from the Rock of Gibraltar. Attributes Weaponry The Black Raven, like all fighter planes, is armed with tracer bullets and missiles, and also holds decoy charges and flares to counter enemy projectiles. In addition, it also has a standard missile bay, which is also capable of holding a few additional passengers and some of Knight's equipment. VTOL Flight The Black Raven was developed by the Russian Air Force as a prototype vector-thrust capable fighter jet, giving the plane the ability to take off without a run-up, hover in place, and land without a runway. Trivia *The real Sukhoi Su-37 was a modified version of the Sukhoi Su-27M (Su-35), built with the intention of increasing the maneuverability of the Su-27M. Only one was ever built (though some reports claim that a second Su-37 was constructed), and that plane crashed in 2002 as a result of structural failure. Category:Aircraft Category:Vehicles Category:Technology Category:Scarecrow Category:The Three Secret Cities